Did Mike Rossi (viral marathon dad) cheat his way into Boston?

For clarity:

1. Agreed the standard will be in the discretion of the race director. That could be a low hurdle or a high hurdle. The director seems to be saying he is going to get a panel together to review. Not clear whether they will make a decision or a recommendation to the race director, but the call is the race director's.

2. Agreed unlikely anyone would appeal to a court. But the point I was making is that we do not yet know what the race director will do in terms of a burden of proof (not standard but burden). That standard will need to be applied in the future in order to be fair to all. If they have timing mats next year that will change it.

3. Agreed the law is irrelevant here. Up to the race director.

Since I do not have the responsibility of a race director, let me be clear I think something is up. But if I was a race director I would have to think long and hard before I DQ'd anyone, and thereby set a standard going forward for others, that essentially was if you A. have marked performance improvement and B. do not show up in 3rd party vendor photos that you are DQ'd, in a race where we could have had timing mats but chose not to.

This is so far back of the pack in general running terms that I doubt anyone is going to establish that standard. If I was a race director I would not want to deal with photos and evaluating performance potential. Glad I am not the race director.

Carry on

CSU-1959 wrote:

YellowLab wrote:

I suggest we put to rest the discussion of the standard of proof needed to DQ Rossi, who has the burden of proof, and whether the RD can DQ Rossi based on circumstantial, rather than direct, evidence.

In addition, the RD can wield the conditions of the waiver on a case by case basis. It is not a blanket requirement to DQ everyone breaking any rule such as wearing headphones or running with a pet. It should be applied to MR because he did not run the entire race based on the photographic evidence.

Again, a lack of evidence is not irrefutable proof; but that is a horse that is tired of being beaten so lets move on.

So what happens if MR is disqualified and his Lehigh Valley results are voided. What happens then?

1. He never qualified for Boston; but he already ran the race. He can not un-run it, he gets to keep his finisher's medal and his storage facility full of B.A.A. memorabilia.

2. However unlikely, his result from Boston could be voided as well; however see #1.

3. He could be suspended/banned from running Lehigh Valley in the future; although I doubt he'll ever show is face on that course again.

4. He could be suspended/banned from participating in the Boston Marathon in the future; however I doubt he'll ever qualify again especially since he never qualified in the first place.

routemaker wrote:

You guys really don't understand how unlikely it is that he ran the full course AND doesn't have any pictures. The numbers have been run and it is less than a .001% chance.

You are mistaken. I can assure you of this with 100% certainty. I am VERY cognizant of the improbability involved. Indeed, it is nearly certain that I understand them better than you do.

Note that I never said that I thought that he ran the full course. Indeed, I never even said there was any realistic possibility that he ran the full course. What I said was that the probability of a DQ was nowhere near 100%.

Now please try to read more carefully. Also, think before posting.

From there FB page, note the "on course" mention. We need you! Volunteer for the Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon on September 12 & 13! Cheer on runners, keep them hydrated and on course. Groups are welcome! Who's volunteering???

lol, Mike, you are a loser! wrote:

Mike, you're busy today trying to muddy the picture! Doesn't surprise me that the same guy who would crucify his children's principle online/in social media would also try to have the marathon times of runners wearing headphones thrown out because he was caught cheating in a marathon… what a loser! Do you cheat on your wife too? Cheat on your taxes? The more you go online posting crap, trying to defend yourself, muddy the waters, and troll this forum, the more people will get pissed off and insistent that you are DQ'd.

I think it's funny that every couple of days Rossie Ruiz comes back on here with a new angle, and new handles, tries to muddy things, then gets systemically destroyed again. He has no case.

The RD can DQ him based on the evidence assembled, if he doesn't (absent a new development), I would never consider running an event he is the RD on.

This Man wrote:

routemaker wrote:

You guys really don't understand how unlikely it is that he ran the full course AND doesn't have any pictures. The numbers have been run and it is less than a .001% chance.

You are mistaken. I can assure you of this with 100% certainty. I am VERY cognizant of the improbability involved. Indeed, it is nearly certain that I understand them better than you do.

Note that I never said that I thought that he ran the full course. Indeed, I never even said there was any realistic possibility that he ran the full course. What I said was that the probability of a DQ was nowhere near 100%.

Now please try to read more carefully. Also, think before posting.

The snark factor is going up. The RD better announce a decision soon or all hell is going to break loose on this forum. :D

This Man wrote:

routemaker wrote:

You guys really don't understand how unlikely it is that he ran the full course AND doesn't have any pictures. The numbers have been run and it is less than a .001% chance.

You are mistaken. I can assure you of this with 100% certainty. I am VERY cognizant of the improbability involved. Indeed, it is nearly certain that I understand them better than you do.

Note that I never said that I thought that he ran the full course. Indeed, I never even said there was any realistic possibility that he ran the full course. What I said was that the probability of a DQ was nowhere near 100%.

Now please try to read more carefully. Also, think before posting.

Dummy dumbs gonna dummy dumb! Gross oversimplification and fancy lingo aside, your post was, well, dumb. "we don't have any pictures of you". Yeah, that's right. But we also have pictures of everybody else. Multiple times. "you ran too fast". Yeah, you ran faster than expected based on the 20 other times you signed up to race (never once indicating a performance level faster than 3:35).

Arguing the probability of a DQ is semantics at this point, but the probability he cheated is ridiculously high.

Not there, their, I still know the difference, so there.

iiagdtr wrote:

From there FB page, note the "on course" mention.

"We need you! Volunteer for the Lehigh Valley Health Network Via Marathon on September 12 & 13! Cheer on runners, keep them hydrated and on course. Groups are welcome! Who's volunteering???"

Saw this in another thread... Is this his true training schedule??

The Mike Rossi wrote:

15 MPW

1,000 miles in 18 months

3:11

BQ Baby !!!!

So tell me Code Red , why would a race director put together a panel to review over 19,000 photos? To prove the lack of evidence that YOU actually ran the race and do nothing with it?? With four months until race day I'm sure they have better things to do. This proves to me that they are taking the photographic evidence seriously and that mike (you) will be DQ'd

Lorimer park knows wrote:

So tell me Code Red , why would a race director put together a panel to review over 19,000 photos? To prove the lack of evidence that YOU actually ran the race and do nothing with it?? With four months until race day I'm sure they have better things to do. This proves to me that they are taking the photographic evidence seriously and that mike (you) will be DQ'd

Or they are just going through the motions as a PR exercise.

We don't know.

And can we please stop accusing everyone of being Mike Rossi if they don't agree with what you post?

Mike Rossi runs 15 mpw. How would he know that LetsRun.com exists?

He gets his running advice from Disney Marathon Facebook groups.

keeping it real wrote:

.... As I said before, I have no real opinion about Rossi cheating or not cheating, and so far , I've seen nothing but circumstantial evidence on here, no real evidence..... that being said , I will take this opportunity to demonstrate

what real evidence is as opposed to circumstantial evidence.

LOL, Good afternoon Mike!

Alternative Explanation wrote:

Or they are just going through the motions as a PR exercise.

We don't know.

And can we please stop accusing everyone of being Mike Rossi if they don't agree with what you post?

Mike Rossi runs 15 mpw. How would he know that LetsRun.com exists?

He gets his running advice from Disney Marathon Facebook groups.

The last made me laugh.

But trust me, the rest of the internet has made sure that Mike Rossi knows LetsRun exists. Numerous articles on this shamble referencing this very thread. Or Google the poor guy.

And don't fool yourself, Mike read the articles.

Maybe mike rosie meant to say: 15 miles a day, 1,000's of miles in 18 months.

Of course then he would not look like the hobby jogger he is.

I'm surprised Mike hasn't apologized for cheating yet. Doing so before a DQ is handed down would be in the best interest of his personal and professional relationships. Everyone would then move on a lot sooner.

Or you could spend all day posting under various names to troll and misdirect.

Training? wrote:

Saw this in another thread... Is this his true training schedule??

The Mike Rossi wrote:

15 MPW

1,000 miles in 18 months

3:11

BQ Baby !!!!

Yes, he is a hobby jogger who occaisonally edits his Nike+ runs to make them more impressive to his facebook followers.

Who cares about pictures at point A to point B , Rossi race times suck and a runner with those racing times could never run a 3:11 marathon so what does that tell you he cheated

Thankfully Boston 2016 qualifying window is September 13, 2014, so MR's Lehigh results are a week early for a double chance. Guess he'll have to try again if he wants to go back.

I just hope he gets DQd in time for the BAA to exclude him from the results in the results book they mail and not send him a finisher's certificate.